NATION NETWORK

BAKERSFIELD PUSH

The Edmonton OIlers will be sending for reinforcements after the trade deadline, and based on previous performances from Condors recalled there should be some good days ahead. This year, more than any other in recent memory, callups have been having an immediate impact on things upon arrival in the NHL

(All photos by Mark Williams)

Beginning early in the season and right up through Zack Kassian, the Oilers have benefited from strong performances from arriving Condors. Here is the list:

October 19: Oilers recall Andrew Miller, he plays one game and is sent down October 22.

October 22: Oilers recall Iiro Pakarinen, he goes 1-0-1 in his first five games.

October 26: Oilers recall Darnell Nurse, he goes 1-1-2 in his first five games.

October 29: Oilers recall Leon Draisaitl, he goes 3-4-7 in his first five games.

November 4: Oilers recall Andrew Miller, he goes 0-0-0 in his first five games.

November 26: Oilers recall Jujhar Khaira, he goes 0-1-1 in his first five games.

December 9: Oilers recall Nikita Nikitin, he goes 0-1-1 in his first five games.

December 20: Oilers recall Mark Fayne, he goes 0-0-0 in his first five games.

December 26: Oilers recall Brad Hunt, he goes 0-0-0 in his first five games.

January 13: Oilers recall Zack Kassian, he goes 1-1-2 in his first five games.

January 22: Oilers recall Griffin Reinhart he goes 0-1-1 in three games and is sent down February 9.

February 10: Oilers recall Laurent Brossoit, he goes 1, 0.92 .970 and is sent down February 16.

February 16: Oilers recall Anders Nilsson

February 17: Oilers recall Nikita Nikitin

Anyone in italics moved the needle a little upon recall, I would rate Nurse, Draisaitl and Kassian as the three best callups this year (Mark Fayne felt more like a waiver move to see about interest and maybe a wakeup call from the coach).

ANY MORE?

As we get closer to the deadline, perhaps we will see some fine performances from other Condors. Here are my top candidates for deadline recall this year:

C-L Jujhar Khaira. Since January 1, he is 13GP, 5-9-14 and is having a major impact on Bakersfield’s offense. I don’t think he will play a feature role on a skill line in Edmonton, but he is one of the more likely callups.

D Jordan Oesterle. He is 18, 2-9-11 and is pushing for more playing time.

L Anton Slepyshev. Oft-injured, since 1/1/16 he is 3-1-4. Oilers need to develop scorers, the Russian is the most promising in the minors at this time.

C Andrew Miller. He is 16GP, 5-12-17 since January 1 and continues to be a quality player in the AHL. The Oilers may want to look at younger forwards (he is 27). Could fill in on a depth line after the deadline, has been playing center more this season.

L Rob Klinkhammer. He is 9GP, 8-2-10 since being sent out, 29-year old has to be on a potential recall list.

D David Musil. Defender is 18GP, 0-4-4 after 1/1/16 and may get a chance before the end of the year.

R Tyler Pitlick. 14GP, 3-8-11 since start of the calendar year, he is 24 with an expiring contract. There is a chance he gets a look, wonder if McLellan has seen him much.

D Griffin Reinhart. 13GP, 1-2-3 since Jan 1, he has also seen some NHL time. The Oilers have had him up a couple of times this season, may want to see others after the deadline.

G Laurent Brossoit. Interesting decision for the Oilers, he played very well in a one-game audition but they clearly want him to play a lot. He could be back up, but it is not guaranteed.

Men like Ryan Hamilton, Brad Hunt and even Matt Ford may get cups of coffee, but if the Oilers want to look at prospects after the deadline, the nine men above are probably the pool.

Not much left in the cuboard Lowetide 5 years of trading draft choices will do that lets see how Greene does he built the Oilkings so fast .We have not had decent scouting for 15 years .Look at Chicago and Detroit they pay thier top players then replace the rest with cheap elc contracts by good drafting and development

They have no choice but to force players who arnt ready into the lineup! It’s not their fault they don’t have many NHL players and rely on kids, there’s nothing they could do! It’s not their fault they have a similar record as the leafs who just tore their team apart and are trying to tank on purpose!the oilers have done everything right. Now shut up and be supportive! What kinda blind sheep are you?

Interesting to see who gets the call up to the team as we wind out the season.

What a treat Draisaitl and Nurse have been to watch this season, adjusting to the NHL game. Two players who will be very dominant for years to come. We have some young players developing now with the ability to pick the team up and carry it on their backs in the foreseeable future. May this painful forever rebuild be finally done this summer. Playoffs next season-dammit!

sadly, Pitlick and Musil my not be re-signed after this season is over. both were #31 picks in their draft years and neither have panned out. may be adding #32 pick Mitch Moroz to this list soon too! wasted, wasted high-ish picks!

Nurse should be in Bakersfield trying to help the Condors into the playoffs, instead of resembling a SMID clone in Edmonton.

He looked fine for the first few games, but he’s no better then a #7 D on most nights now.
Yeah, he can skate. Move the puck to the other teams blueline, then have no clue what to do with it. Tough kid, but that IQ seems to be a bit low. he actually reminds me of Smid (OMG). That would be disaster. But not surprising.

He needs to go back to a lower level of hockey. Right now he is not good enough to be here. Let’s hope he’s not another Nail Yakupov overrated bust.

They’ll get better one day boys! Patience… Moral victories… Need time to evaluate… Advanced stats…. McDavid…. It’s a process…. Too many coaches…. Yakupov…. Schultz…. #whatelsecouldtheydo…. 6 rings…. Chia won a cup once…. #Icedistrict…. No free agents wanna come to Edmonton…. Did they best we could…. Remember the 80’s…. Remember the 80’s again…. Ask your dad about the 80’s… Buy the new bright orange pylon looking jersey’s…. Don’t forget about the 80’s…. Just need more time….

It’s really easy to manage an NHL team! Thanks to the draft, all you gotta do is suck long enough and you won’t be able to not eventually become a somewhat semi competitive team! We’re still waiting on that, but it’s gotta happen eventually right?

In the mean time, there’s lots of money to be made!! Especially in a city like Edmonton!!! You could ice a junior team and they’ll still come watch… Suckers

#did the best they could!!! No one could’ve done better!!! Oilers were destined to be the worst team of the decade no matter what. It was impossible to ice a team that earned respect

Just believe!!! The same people that brought you the last decade of suck are the perfect advisors for Chiapete!!! They know what they’re doing!!!! If anyone knows how to put a winning hockey team together it’s Lowe, MacT and Howson!! Sure, history suggest’s the complete opposite, and sure they may have put together and overseen one of the worst teams in league history, but let’s not acknowledge that and put our blindfolds on and support them anyways!! Cuz this time will be diffrent!!

Chia’s in charge now!! Sure he might’ve traded for Reinhart, who cares if he’s the reason I have to watch Korpikoski? He had faith in Schultz:.. Maybe it didn’t work out but Atleast we can thank him for Nilsson and Letestu!!!

Is there any reason to be an oiler fan other than the fact I was raised by my father who watched Gretzky?

Who needs to make smart trades and manage a team effectively when you have a billionaire owner who will never fire you as a friend?? Just suck long enough and maybe you’ll eventually be able to tell everyone how smart you are

I wish I was rich enough to conduct an experiment. With the way the NHL draft is designed to help the bad teams and provide a competitive balance for the league, I would love to appoint a GM role to someone who has never even seen ice before let alone watched a hockey game and see if they can assemble a more competitive hockey team than Lowe has. My bet is over 90% of the world’s population could’ve done a better job!

I have never watched a professional cricket game. I’ve actually never watched or even played a cricket game period. But I guarantee if I was placed as a general manager of a pro cricket team and the draft was designed the same way the NHL draft was where the worst teams got to select one of the best 18 year old players in the world, I can all but guarantee that 10 years later my cricket team wouldn’t be one of the worst cricket teams in the league!

What did you guys expect from chia?? It’s not like every semi-casual fan knew what was wrong with the oilers! Before Katz hired him the guy was only making a few million dollars a year to manage a diffrent NHL team. How could he possibly know what was wrong with the oilers? You gotta give him time. It’s a mystery! How could he know Schultz, Nikitin and Ference wouldn’t be able to get it done for him?

“Kevin Lowe joined the Oilers staff in 1998 as an assistant coach. In 1999, he took over head coaching duties from Ron Low. He was head coach for just a single season, getting the Oilers to the first round of the playoffs.”

The cronyistic managerial structure, outlined above, has been the root of the causes for the Oilers demise and continued through the hiring of MacTavish, who was arguably the worst GM in Oilers (and hockey) history. Its unbelievable the KLowe and MacT are stil with the organization in any capacity.

Its also unbelievable that a successful businessman like Katz would allow such a managerial structure to exist, considering the damage it has done to his brand. Now that the Oilers have finally hired real hockey ops people (PC, BN, TM) there is real hope that they can drag this floundering franchise out of the gutter.

However, I think its going to take more time then we hoped to get this team to respectability. We might not make the playoffs until 2018-19.

“Kevin Lowe joined the Oilers staff in 1998 as an assistant coach. In 1999, he took over head coaching duties from Ron Low. He was head coach for just a single season, getting the Oilers to the first round of the playoffs.”

The cronyistic managerial structure, outlined above, has been the root of the causes for the Oilers demise and continued through the hiring of MacTavish, who was arguably the worst GM in Oilers (and hockey) history. Its unbelievable the KLowe and MacT are stil with the organization in any capacity.

Its also unbelievable that a successful businessman like Katz would allow such a managerial structure to exist, considering the damage it has done to his brand. Now that the Oilers have finally hired real hockey ops people (PC, BN, TM) there is real hope that they can drag this floundering franchise out of the gutter.

However, I think its going to take more time then we hoped to get this team to respectability. We might not make the playoffs until 2018-19.